An Overview of the Study on Morph-Genetic Materials in State Key Lab of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Morph-genetic synthesis, a preparation method using bio-structures as templates for fabricating micro-cellular materials, has attracted a considerable interest in recent years. In this report, we summarize our obtained results on synthesizing oxides and carbides based on wood templates (for TiC and SiC) and cotton templates (for Al2O3, SnO2 and SiC), respectively. The final products are observed to be faithfully retaining the micro-morphologies of their original natural counterparts, with the template bodies absolutely or partially replaced by the chemically synthesized compounds. These results suggest a new and handy way to fabricate materials with various microstructures, with deliberately choosing desired bio-structures from billions of different species as templates. Moreover, results on Al infiltrated wood templates, as a composite system, are also presented.